Neil Gorsuch.
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Justice Gorsuch blamed “bureaucrats” for race-identification sections of college applications.
In his opinion, Gorsuch called the option to identify your race a “scheme of classifications.”
SCOTUS ruled 6-3 Thursday that considering race in admissions was unconstitutional.
Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch slammed the race-identification section of college applications, saying it was created by “bureaucrats” and became a “scheme of classifications.”
In his opinion concurring with SCOTUS Chief Justice John Roberts that affirmative action is unconstitutional, Gorsuch said the race-identification boxes on college applications — such as the Common Application — were created by government bureaucrats for data collection.
“A federal interagency commission devised this scheme of classifications in the 1970s to facilitate data collection,” Gorsuch wrote, adding that the commission didn’t receive input from “anthropologists, sociologists, ethnologists, or other experts” when creating these sections.
“Recognizing the limitations of their work, federal regulators cautioned that their classifications ‘should not be interpreted as being scientific or anthropological in nature, nor should they be viewed as determinants of eligibility for participation in any Federal program,'” Gorsuch said, citing regulations.
Gorsuch’s opinion aligned with Justice Roberts’ majority opinion, as the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 to strike down affirmative action on Thursday.
The court majority called the consideration of race in college admissions unconstitutional and discriminatory, effectively ending the practice.